Skipped Pudding
by Morning Frost on Leaf
Summary: Neville does perhaps the bravest thing he has ever done and Luna lectures him on the behavioural patterns of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Shameless Neville/Luna fluff.


As Neville Longbottom walked out of the Great Hall and towards the Black Lake he wondered, for perhaps the hundredth time in his life, why on earth he'd been put in Gryffindor. The house boasted of 'daring, nerve and chivalry' - yet Neville was convinced that he didn't possess any of the qualities. Why, just sneaking out of the Great Hall when everyone was eating their dinner had been a tremendous ordeal for him. He felt like he ought to be relocated to Slytherin and then promptly thrown into Azkaban. He briefly wondered if _Luna _had felt bad about skipping dinner.

At the thought of _Luna _his heart flipped, and on top of his anxiety about creeping out of the castle he felt a new fear – fear of rejection. Yet buried underneath that were a few shreds of hope, mingled with excitement. I mean, he had as good a chance as anyone, didn't he? The thought of possibly getting together with _Luna _made his stomach flip, as if there were thousands of Cornish Pixies fluttering around inside. His stomach then gave a large rumble. _No, that's just because I didn't have pudding._

He instantly regretted the decision not to skip the main course. He nervously cupped his hand around his mouth and breathed. He didn't _think _he could smell any pork chops or potatoes.

When he caught sight of Luna's straggly blonde main down near the lake his stomach gave another flip, and he considered the possibility that it might not be the result of skipped pudding after all. His hands, which were currently behind his back and clasped firmly around some flowers, suddenly felt very wet and clammy. He was on the verge of turning back when he fiercely asked himself, _What are you – a man or a mouse? _And then, absorbed in a daydream about Peter Pettigrew, he didn't realise how close he was until he accidentally tripped over what appeared to be his own two feet.

Luna didn't so much as look round as Neville fell flat on his front and practically threw the flowers on the ground. Neville hurriedly rushed to his feet and brushed the dirt from his trousers. _Well that's my romantic entrance out the window, _he thought scathingly.

"Hi, Neville," Luna said pleasantly, as if nothing had happened.

"Hi," Neville said. He then rehearsed the speech he had in his head. "I thought I m-mind find you here." _Stop stammering! _"S-since I didn't see you at dinner, and you were saying about how to like to come down to the lake to find Bragles – Nargles, I meant Nargles!" he added hurriedly.

Luna didn't reply. He stood there awkwardly, swinging his arms for a moment before gesturing to the discarded flowers on the grass. "I brought you some flowers, but… Yeah."

"Oh, flowers!" Luna beamed and snatched one of the roses from the ground. Neville inwardly kicked himself for his unoriginality in choosing the plant, being an aspiring Herbologist and all, but Luna didn't seem to mind and that's all that mattered to him. "Neville, this is _brilliant! _Nargles are often known to infest mistletoe and various other plants – you really are good at Herbology, aren't you?"

A flicker of irritation passed over Neville at Luna's misunderstanding, but nothing could have prepared him for the hug that followed. Without warning she flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and not, thankfully, his somewhat large middle. Neville was too stunned to do anything but look into her eyes – perpetually wide, like the look of a rabbit caught in headlights, and as silvery-grey as a Patronus charm. Why, Neville felt he could cast a fully-fledged Patronus right now, he felt so happy – and, with an opportunistic courage that rivalled that of Godric Gryffindor himself, he kissed her.

He went in for the kiss too quickly. Luna hadn't been expecting it, was still grinning at the flowers, and their teeth clanked painfully together. _Why is it always me? _He thought he felt her smile on his lips, might have imagined her pulling away – and almost instinctively he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest. Their lips moulded together and her small, delicate tongue wrestled with his, and Neville thought to himself how this moment was more magical than anything he'd ever studied at Hogwarts – not that he'd been any good at magic, anyway. He gripped her more tightly, wanting to savour the moment, reluctant to break the spell – although he'd never been very good at spells either. Slowly, hesitantly, he lifted his eyelids a little. He didn't want the most amazing moment of his life to be in the dark.

Luna was kissing him with her eyes wide open. The shock of it was enough to jolt him away from Luna's lips. Thoroughly irritated and embarrassed with himself he wiped the saliva around his mouth with the sleeve of his robes. _I hope I'm a good kisser, _he thought desperately. It would be nice to be good at _something._

"Did you know," Luna said brightly as if kissing a classmate was the most ordinary thing in the world, "that every time someone kisses, a Crumple-Horned Snorkack is born? And that their sneezes are what cause the days to get shorter in the winter? But I suppose you do," she said in her sing-song voice as she flounced away. "You're really clever, Neville."

"Thanks," was all a stunned Neville could reply, but she was already out of earshot. Shaking his head and grinning from ear to ear, he made his way back to the Great Hall, not once thinking about the detention that awaited him.

**Got this idea from an interesting little article I read on the internet. Neville and Luna are not only my favourite characters in the series but also my favourite pairing. ^^**


End file.
